1.3.2 Ecological assets

Summary

The water-dependent asset register for the preliminary assessment extent (PAE) of the Cooper subregion contains 1516 ecological assets. The water-dependent ecological assets encompass a large proportion of the area of the Cooper PAE. The asset register consists of 595 assets in the ‘Vegetation’ subgroup, 141 in the ‘Groundwater’ subgroup and 780 in the ‘Surface water’ subgroup. All nominated surface water and groundwater assets were assessed as water dependent. Of the nominated ‘Vegetation’ subgroup assets, nine species habitat assets were excluded as the habitats could not be shown to fulfil the criteria for water dependence.

The asset register includes one threatened ecological community and the potential distribution of seven species listed under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The asset register also includes the potential habitat distributions of five additional species listed under Queensland’s Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Nature Conservation Act).